Which clinic tests genetically + open donation?

Russia NGC Clinic

Hi Milka,

I've been researching this for a long time too. It's really frustrating that no genetic tests are carried out on donors in Denmark. Only a family history is taken. But many people are healthy carriers of hereditary diseases - so such an anamnesis is only of limited use.

On the other hand, the risk of a child actually developing such a disease is only around 0.2%. This risk can be virtually eliminated by so-called carrier screening of both sides (sperm and egg).

Another genetic risk concerns the number of chromosomes (euploid/aneuploid). This can be investigated by PGT-A of the blastocyst. In younger donors (under 30 years of age), around 80-90% of blastocysts are genetically normal.

Nevertheless, there is a 10-20% risk that a blastocyst is aneuploid (e.g. monosomy, trisomy, etc.). This correlates in part with the morphological quality: a blastocyst with a rating of 4AA or 5AA is usually euploid - but this is no guarantee.

You can roughly say that if you have four blastocysts from a donor under the age of 30, statistically around one of them is aneuploid - this can lead to failure to implant, miscarriage, stillbirth or Down's syndrome, for example.

Carrier screening and PGT-A are offered in some clinics in the Czech Republic and Spain - in the USA they are almost standard.

My dilemma now is: I would prefer to choose an open donation, but would have to accept certain risks. If the child later wishes to get to know the genetic donor, this would be impossible with an anonymous donation.

I wonder whether it's justified to say: "Health was our priority - that wasn't possible in Denmark, so we opted for an anonymous donation."

Hello Mika,
In retrospect, I would have liked an open donation with PGT-A, this seems to be quite possible in Portugal. At the time, I didn't think about the fact that this could save you a few transfers and we opted for DK because of the proximity. I would simply arrange an initial consultation with a Portuguese clinic.
LG

Hi Ninusch84,

Unfortunately, in Portugal you are not allowed to perform PGT-A on EZS embryos without an indication.

Apparently it is possible in Finland and Austria. In Finland, however, you get very little information about the donors.

Perhaps it is possible in Greece? Recently there have also been open donations there.

We have opted for Portugal.

I had a conversation with a clinic in Greece and although open donations have recently become possible there, there are hardly any local donors and they come via egg banks. The open donors from the egg banks that I had access to came from Ukraine, Spain, Cyprus and Greece. USA also possible - more phenotypes, but these are very expensive. Portugal also came to mind.
Claudia and Chris were a great help to me and I can highly recommend the appointment

I keep telling it here : We were in England. Donations are open there. PGT-A is not regularly scheduled, but you can opt for it and of course have to pay for it yourself. We then had it done about halfway through the trials with the frozen blastos. But it would be better to opt for it straight away - before they are frozen, if that's what you want.

It helped me to gain more confidence.

Hi,

I am also brand new and am just starting to read up on the subject of EZS.

In which clinics did you finally have the genetic testing with lots of information about the donor at the same time?

I had contact with a clinic in Portugal, but unfortunately they don't provide any pictures.

LG

Cath

I'm new to the subject and have already done a bit of browsing in Denmark and the UK clinics.

It's a shame that it seems to be difficult to find. Both are offered, but apparently not in combination, right? I am 41 and am in good health apart from genetically poor EC.

I found it very appealing to be able to see the children's photos of the donors so that I could compare for myself which one looks most like me and all the additional information is super helpful. I don't want to leave this to a team of doctors.

In addition, the genetic testing of both the donor/my partner and a PGT-A of the embryos is extremely important to me.

Maybe have a look at Cape Town, there are good clinics there, you can make a nice vacation out of it and they offer children's photos or photos of the donors' children, as far as I know. You can get database access in advance.

I don't know if they offer PGT-A, but I'm sure you can google it quickly.

Flights are of course more expensive than in Europe. You'd have to see if the treatment is cheaper. There was a time here in the forum when girls were flying down there in droves because they were getting good results.

It has become very quiet in recent years.

Dear Cath, first of all welcome to the forum. What information is important to you about the donor? Would you like an open donation, where the child has the opportunity to get to know her? Or do you want to make your own choice based on the pictures?

I would like to tell you briefly about our journey. We were in Spain, where the donation is always anonymous. You are only told the donor's blood group and age after a successful donation. But at the first appointment, a biometric photo was taken of me. This is then compared with the database of donors and then, which is so important, they look to see which of the matches match your own values, e.g. blood group etc. We then also have a PGT. We then also had a PGT-A done and had two out of three euploid blastos. What can I say, we had two beautiful children. The big one looks a lot like her dad, but it's hard to tell with the little one, but she also resembles her big sister. People who don't know about the donation often say that they look like me. If you looked at baby photos of me, I would look completely different. But they can easily pass for my children. In other words, the clinics in Spain make the selection in such a way that, in theory, it is not obvious that it was an egg donation. So the blood group must also match. In Spain, it is not usual to inform the children about this, as egg donation is simply quite normal. We will tell our children, but it's up to them who they want to tell. Close friends know.

I just want to encourage you that you should have confidence in how the clinic chooses. You might still find the perfect match. But if not, look for the expertise and experience of the clinic, that's the most important thing.

Good luck and all the best!